Of Time and Touch
by PhoenixSong17
Summary: Anna doesn't realize it, but Elsa craves the quality time together just as much as her little sister does. Post-movie one-shot, NOT Elsanna.


**My first Frozen fanfiction. I just love the relationship between Anna and Elsa, and I wish we had seen a little more of it. I especially love Elsa and can't help but imagine what life was like right after The Great Thaw at the end of the movie. That's where this one-shot came from.**

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As Elsa turned another page in her book, she heard a soft knock on the study door.  
"Come in," she called, distractedly, the words still feeling strange on her tongue.  
Glancing up from the words in front of her, the queen smiled affectionately as she watched her little sister shuffle hesitantly into the room.  
"Hi," Anna mumbled, looking down at her hands.  
It had been a week since The Great Thaw and Anna was still a bit shy around the older sister she was slowly getting to know. While Elsa found it endearing, she was also filled with guilt, knowing she was at fault for her sister's departure from her usual bubbly personality. Slipping her index finger between the book pages, Elsa turned fully toward Anna and gave her a small smile.  
"Hey there," she replied. "Did you need something?"  
Anna continued to stare at her fidgeting fingers and shook her head. Elsa gave a small sigh, marked her place in her book, and got up from her place by the fire to move toward her sister. Once in front of her, Elsa reached out and lifted Anna's chin until the princess's cerulean eyes finally met the queen's own ice blue ones.  
"Anna, what's wrong?" Elsa pursued.  
Glancing away, Anna whispered something so low that her sister could not make it out. The queen rested her hands on the young girl's shoulders and gave her a small shake.  
"Hey, Anna," she spoke soothingly. "It's just me. You can tell me anything."  
Looking back into her older sister's gaze, Anna took a deep breath and repeated herself, this time a little louder.  
"I was just wondering if I could sit with you while you read. You wouldn't even know I'm here."  
Elsa's eyes softened and her smile grew wider at her sister's request.  
"Of course, Anna, I would love for you to join me," she said, leading the younger girl to the fire, sitting her down in front of the couch that the queen had been occupying.  
"Elsa," Anna began, confused. "Why am I on the floor?"  
"Just trust me," the queen replied, sitting back down and picking her book back up.  
As the queen resumed reading from where she had left off, her free hand drifted down to run her fingers through the princess's strawberry blonde locks, scratching gently against her scalp. Anna immediately relaxed and hummed her approval at her older sister's ministrations.  
Elsa smiled and allowed her mind to drift as she eventually felt her sister succumb to sleep under her gentle actions. She had missed so much. The closeness the two girls had once shared when they were younger. The talking, the playing, the comfortable silences as they lay awake in bed. But, most of all, she had missed this. The physical contact. For thirteen years, Elsa had been confined to the gloves that had kept her from even the smallest of skin to skin contact. She wouldn't allow herself to touch another person, for the fear of what she might do to them. She hadn't even hugged her parents goodbye before their final, fatal trip. Just a small bow before they had left her forever.  
Now, free from the gloves and from her fear, Elsa was eager to reacquaint herself with every texture and pattern she had missed for over a decade, touching almost everything she could reach. Yet her most missed contact was with Anna. She took every advantage that she could to remember the feel of her sister; linking their fingers together, hugging her goodbye or goodnight, leaving her gentle pecks on the temple or cheek, and, most of all, threading her thin fingers through the waves of soft, coppery hair.  
Not that Anna minded. She was just as eager to make up for the years of lost contact as much as her sister. As she began to rouse from her small slumber in front of the warm fire, she lazily reached up and grasped the hand that was still pulling through the strands of her hair. Startled out of her own musings, Elsa looked down at the small hand that grasped her pale fingers and then into the sleepy eyes of her sister.  
"I love you, Elsie," Anna whispered, a slight slur in her voice.  
"I love you back," the older girl responded softly.  
Heaving herself off of the floor and onto the couch next to her sister, Anna quickly collapsed against Elsa, with her head resting in the crook of her neck. Smiling warmly, the queen adjusted so that she could turn and kick her legs up onto the cushions. Reaching up to the back of the couch, Elsa tugged a blanket over her and her drowsy sister so that they were both snuggled beneath the thick material. Wrapping her arms around the young girl's smaller frame, the queen felt herself drifting off with the princess, thinking that she couldn't remember the last time she had felt so warm.

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**Reviews are love!**


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